CHAPTER VII.
War with the Blackfeet Indians.
Unsuccessful Trapping .-- Disastrous March to Fort Hall .-- The Feast upon Horse-flesh .-- The Hunting Expedition .-- Its Rare Attractions .-- Dogged by the Blackfeet .-- Safe Arrival at the Fort .-- All their Animals Stolen by the Indians .-- Expedition to the Blackfeet Country .-- Winter Quarters with the Friendly Indians .-- Sufferings of the Animals .-- Return to the Blackfeet Country .-- Battle with the Indians .-- Incidents of the Battle.
At the close of the summer months the rendezvous was broken up, and all parties scattered; the traders to their homes, within the precincts of civilization, and the trappers to the savage wilderness.

Kit Carson joined a party bound to the upper waters of the Yellowstone river.

This is a large stream with many tributaries, all of which take their rise amidst the eastern ravines of the Rocky mountains, pouring their united flood into the Missouri at Fort William.

From the head waters of the river, to the point where it enters the Missouri, there is a distance of five or six hundred miles, of perhaps as wild a country as can be found on this continent.
Here, amidst these rugged defiles, the mountaineers set their traps.

But they caught no beaver.